Is progress necessarily a good thing? Well, yes, I can't do without my mod cons. But do we pay a price for it? Yes again. Here's my fourth draft. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet so am giving myself time to digest.
My computer broke down recently, which sent me into a spin. My laptop has taken a fair few mutations to get it to the sleek laid back little black number that gives me so much pleasure. I turn it on before my morning coffee and tuck it in last thing at night. It sends me my mail and teleports me anywhere I want to go. We travel the information superhighway together. But most importantly it has a word processor function. I wouldn’t exactly go as far as to say that it’s my muse, but I couldn’t have written this article alone. Did I mention it has a thesaurus? Progress, I guess you’d call it. I love progress, but have come to realise that there’s a price to be paid for it.
On the day before the breakdown I had been taking a walk and as is usually the case when you’re inhaling large quantities of fresh air and thinking of nothing in particular, some idea that had been germinating in the subconscious found its way to the fore. I sat down immediately on the nearest brick fence, whipped my pen and notebook out of my capacious handbag and captured the thought. That’s as far as the grey cells were willing to take me till I could find time to settle down at my desk, place my fingers on the home keys of the computer and tap out the first draft.
What had I done before computers? I managed, because I didn’t know any better. I checked the snail mail letter box did my research wherever I could find it, including the local library and sacrificed many biros, note pads and trees in the interests of communicating my thoughts with anyone who cared. If I have lost the knack it’s because I have let myself be lured by the ‘undo’ and cut and paste keys. I’ve lost that special connection between thought and pen that I once had and now I let my fingers do the talking.
At some time or another we have all dumped the old in favour of the shiny and new. But we are discovering that progress is a two-edged sword. As a global village we can communicate via a bunch of media in an instant but many of us are not capable of sustaining face to face dialogue. We’ve come a long way since the Wright brothers but flying produces the emission of gases that contribute to global warming. We have refined our foods in the name of convenience and wonder why we are unhealthy and out of shape.
Knowing all that I do, do I want to give up any of my mod cons? Not on your life! I don’t and neither does anybody else on the planet. Even those people who can quote statistics chapter and verse that confirm how much each convenience to us is damaging to the planet are guilty of straying from the straight and narrow. If they’re not living in caves they watch television like the rest of us do. They drive cars and they buy pre-packaged food. I would wager that most of them are not vegetarians.
The New Scientist (December 2006) says ‘the livestock industry is degrading land, contributing to the greenhouse effect, polluting water resources, and destroying biodiversity.’ I’ll go as far as admitting to my feelings of guilt, but I refuse to give up meat, I like meat. I won’t wear plastic shoes, either. They make my feet sweat. And although I resisted for the longest time I’ve got used to the mobile phone. Mine is only a discard that my son gave me when he upgraded several phones ago, but it’s become a handy tool. Despite stories linking radiation to mobile phones there are more than 4.3 billion people worldwide using them.
I don’t think it’s in us to go back to the good old days when television ended at four in the afternoon and telephones were fixed to the wall. So what’s the answer? Well, it’s obvious that if I knew, I’d be running the country at the very least. But I think that instead of overwhelming us with shiny gadgets, scientists and inventors should either find a way to make the gadgets we have safe for us and for the planet or else create viable alternatives. It’s more than obvious that we are only going to give up our mod cons if there’s something to replace them. Teleportation as an alternative to flying would be acceptable. Electric cars seem to be on the horizon, and then maybe we can stop using up what’s left of our fossil fuels.
I have a terrible secret to impart. I love the undo and cut and paste keys. I’m not sure that I want to give them up. But I have discovered that I don’t like the feeling of being totally reliant on computers to do my thinking for me. I have decided a happy medium would be to take some time out from my electronic friend and sit for an hour each day, away from temptation, with a pen and notebook in my hand, writing and re-writing my articles.
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